Your opinion on a interesting fact about the AN (II)

[Gylthas]

A theocratic democracy, interesting. Are there qualifications to become a candidate?

---

The HIGMS Triumphant battleship is the ceremonial flagship of the Imperial Guard Naval Force. She holds not only the office of the Chief of Staff of the IGNF, but also its residence. Not only can she still set out to sea, but her weapons are also still capable of firing, and still have usable ammo. They just don't use her in combat, due to how useless the battleship has become, save for naval fire support

[Sodom]

A theocratic democracy, interesting. Are there qualifications to become a candidate?

---

The HIGMS Triumphant battleship is the ceremonial flagship of the Imperial Guard Naval Force. She holds not only the office of the Chief of Staff of the IGNF, but also its residence. Not only can she still set out to sea, but her weapons are also still capable of firing, and still have usable ammo.

There aren’t any codified qualifications required, but nominally one needs to be a Sodomite Christian or Jew to be put on the electoral list, have a religious background and live up to the standards of the city’s authorities. Billionaires and other self-serving individuals aren’t permitted and private companies can’t invest in candidates’ campaigns.

/skip

[A m e n r i a]

A theocratic democracy, interesting. Are there qualifications to become a candidate?

---

The HIGMS Triumphant battleship is the ceremonial flagship of the Imperial Guard Naval Force. She holds not only the office of the Chief of Staff of the IGNF, but also its residence. Not only can she still set out to sea, but her weapons are also still capable of firing, and still have usable ammo. They just don't use her in combat, due to how useless the battleship has become, save for naval fire support

Unless her age and her "ceremonialness" gives her a huge stat bonus or something, I think you'd better make a newer, better ship as a flagship and HQ for your Chief of Staff. "Ceremonial" anything in military that doesn't give any gameplay benefits are stupid imo. Of course, the last two sentences don't apply if she's a super ship capable of taking out good ships from later eras.

The Darkstar Dodecahedron, the evil, male counterpart to the Starchild Sorority, have personalities, and thus powers, that are a twisted perversion to those belonging to the Starchild Sorority.

For example, Supernova, the cheerful, energetic "happy virus" of the latter team has the ability to create explosions. Her counterpart, Fallout, is a psychotic, murderous villain who likes to make explosion puns as he obliterates things and people with his nuclear powers.

Another example would be the Werewolf Brothers Damon and Phillip to the Vampire Twins Camilla and Camellia. The latter are trained as spies/assassins able to take out a variety of creatures including their own kind, but would never harm an innocent. The former, however, are experts at tracking and observing people, figuring out their fears, and putting them through it while killing them.

[Borgevia]

If they're mythologies, that's something to tell children. If not, then that's a political tool if they do have a national alliance.

---

It's mandatory for Borgovians to spend at least 1 year studying abroad and refusal to do so either because of circumstances they can't control or simply lack of interest, they're federally mandated to serve overseas for a minimum of 2 years. Refusal to do that is death penalty until 1960, which is then replaced with being blacklisted by Borgovia and neighbouring countries. When President Paoli was the Presidential Dictator of Borgovia, using his dictatorial powers to reform the country and social engineer a "culture compatible to democratic values", he believes democracy and liberalism can only work if the people are educated, informed, and globalised. If the people aren't willing to be "compatible with liberal values", using the Paradox of Tolerance, will be forced to. Borgovia can't be a stable, healthy democracy like West Germany or Finland as long as the average citizen is stupid, unaware, and thinks Bernie Sanders is "too liberal" while brown nosing the living hell out of the EU/Japan (which basically provides many of Sanders' policies). This is why Borgovian students commit suicide when they perform poorly in school, die in international conflicts if they refuse to study abroad for a year, and are publicly shamed throughout media, press, and local gatherings in hopes they either die or change their ways.

In President Paoli's eyes, if you're 18+ and unable to meet his standards, you dying or publicly shamed in state media will make it easier to "advance" Borgovia into a country ready to be a democracy. His method of reform influenced Lee Kwan Yew's presidency in Singapore. Those who are physically or mentally unable to fight in combat, or mentally unable to meet a dangerously high academic standards are put to work as chefs, custodian, etc in military barracks. In 1968, Borgovia became a democracy after Paoli stepped down, feeling confident Borgovians are finally fit for democracy and human rights. In 1997, the military draft was dismantled. In 2009, Borgovia declared the high suicide rate among low or mediocre performing students an epidemic. Today, the right-wing party, the Liberal Party, are Socially Liberal but Fiscally Moderate who can be compared to many of Europe's Centre-Rights. In the USA, Canada, and UK, they'd be pinko commies who hate their country and want refugees.

Paoli is also a racist. He argued that democracy failed in Russia in 1993 because "They're a primitive people with a primitive, anti-intellectual culture run by oligarchical drug lords. It is why they're a failed democracy, a failed state".

[Cossack Peoples]

Harsh, but it does bring up the question of what means are acceptable to achieve an end. We've achieved a greater and pure democracy, but at the cost of inhibiting freedoms and killing kids.

---

Currently, the FRCP is in a state of environmental disaster. In response to the threat of a disadvantageous war, countryside was torn up to allow for military defenses, emergency runways, and staging areas in case of an invasion. On the eastern coasts of the Federal Republic, it is common to see makeshift pillboxes on beaches, as well as still-maintained SAM firing positions. Towards cities, a network of trenches, roadblocks, and sniper's nests were established, in preparation for grueling urban fighting that was expected to last as long as possible.

As a consequence, many national parks have been eviscerated to provide wood for makeshift roadblocks, as well as guerilla camps should the enemy make it far inland. Much of the steppes have been dirtied by abandoned military equipment and construction materials as well as littered with the occasionally finished bunker.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

That is a natural consequence of being too ruthlessly industrialist, and likely the Cossacks will be regretting this for the remainder of their nation's history. Which I guess is the true meaning of "Eternity for Cossacks!"

---

It's actually a somewhat common problem in the Cosmic Mainframe to become trapped in a simulation. The Mental Enhancement Units most of the population uses allow them to enter a virtual world, and they sometimes malfunction and make it impossible to exit the virtual world. For example, if the MEU believes that the body is completely paralyzed, it automatically places the person's consciousness in virtual reality to reduce the adverse effects locked-in syndrome can have on the mind, but this failsafe can be triggered by a malfunction in the brain-computer interface. Another issue may be that the system for "waking up" from virtual reality is failing due to a misconfiguration. Thankfully, the MEU can usually be repaired within hours, preventing someone from staying in the virtual world for too long. Sometimes, however, a severe malfunction can cause one to become trapped in virtual reality for days, months, or, in one case, 281 years. People who are trapped for this long tend to develop delusions that the physical world is a simulation within the virtual world, and they often confuse physical and virtual reality.

[Gylthas]

Reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. You lose a duel in the virtual network, you likely enter a vegetative state in real life. Except in this case, "losing a duel that causes a real-life coma" equates to a glitch.

---

Choose one fact about Gylthan mythology and/or religion:

1. Faeries are servants of Kera, goddess of nature, who watch over nature. There are different kinds of faeries, one for each biome: forest faeries, desert faeries, mountain faeries, swampland faeries, snow faeries and plains faeries.

Faeries are human-sized with either butterfly or dragonfly wings, depending on the variant. They usually wear nothing, but if they do wear something, it is but a dress.

2. The Pollus is a giant red bird, like a chicken, except with a giant beak and scales and keratinous shells replacing feathers, with its wings being membranes. It has superb hearing, thanks to its fan-like ears, and the ability to spew fire (but not breathe a stream of fire).

It is a symbol of valour, usually in battle. Airborne units tend to use this symbol.

3. The Pescas is a giant fish-like creature with serrated teeth, dark blue iridescent scales, sharp webbed dorsal fins, wing-like fins, powerful legs and webbed feet. It has the ability to shoot a jet of high-pressure water from its mouth.

It is a creature representative of Navos, god of water, being depicted as the god's personal pet.

[Palmyrion]

Reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. You lose a duel in the virtual network, you likely enter a vegetative state in real life. Except in this case, "losing a duel that causes a real-life coma" equates to a glitch.

---

Choose one fact about Gylthan mythology and/or religion:

1. Faeries are servants of Kera, goddess of nature, who watch over nature. There are different kinds of faeries, one for each biome: forest faeries, desert faeries, mountain faeries, swampland faeries, snow faeries and plains faeries.

Faeries are human-sized with either butterfly or dragonfly wings, depending on the variant. They usually wear nothing, but if they do wear something, it is but a dress.

2. The Pollus is a giant red bird, like a chicken, except with a giant beak and scales and keratinous shells replacing feathers, with its wings being membranes. It has superb hearing, thanks to its fan-like ears, and the ability to spew fire (but not breathe a stream of fire).

It is a symbol of valour, usually in battle. Airborne units tend to use this symbol.

3. The Pescas is a giant fish-like creature with serrated teeth, dark blue iridescent scales, sharp webbed dorsal fins, wing-like fins, powerful legs and webbed feet. It has the ability to shoot a jet of high-pressure water from its mouth.

It is a creature representative of Navos, god of water, being depicted as the god's personal pet.

Quite a fitting symbol for the Airborne. Flying tanks, yo!

---

While abortion is legal in Palmyrion (only up to 24 weeks and under extreme circumstances such as poverty and conception through rape), this is balanced out by the fact that the government has an assistance programme/initiative similar to charities like ProLife UK or Feminists for Life that assist mothers who are caught offguard by unplanned pregnancies.

Furthermore, foreigners - those who have not been granted citizenship or not naturalised - cannot avail of abortion in Palmyrion.

[Christenmark]

Reminds me of Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. You lose a duel in the virtual network, you likely enter a vegetative state in real life. Except in this case, "losing a duel that causes a real-life coma" equates to a glitch.

---

Choose one fact about Gylthan mythology and/or religion:

1. Faeries are servants of Kera, goddess of nature, who watch over nature. There are different kinds of faeries, one for each biome: forest faeries, desert faeries, mountain faeries, swampland faeries, snow faeries and plains faeries.

Faeries are human-sized with either butterfly or dragonfly wings, depending on the variant. They usually wear nothing, but if they do wear something, it is but a dress.

2. The Pollus is a giant red bird, like a chicken, except with a giant beak and scales and keratinous shells replacing feathers, with its wings being membranes. It has superb hearing, thanks to its fan-like ears, and the ability to spew fire (but not breathe a stream of fire).

It is a symbol of valour, usually in battle. Airborne units tend to use this symbol.

3. The Pescas is a giant fish-like creature with serrated teeth, dark blue iridescent scales, sharp webbed dorsal fins, wing-like fins, powerful legs and webbed feet. It has the ability to shoot a jet of high-pressure water from its mouth.

It is a creature representative of Navos, god of water, being depicted as the god's personal pet.

Quite a fitting symbol for the Airborne. Flying tanks, yo!

---

While abortion is legal in Palmyrion (only up to 24 weeks and under extreme circumstances such as poverty and conception through rape), this is balanced out by the fact that the government has an assistance programme/initiative similar to charities like ProLife UK or Feminists for Life that assist mothers who are caught offguard by unplanned pregnancies.

Furthermore, foreigners - those who have not been granted citizenship or not naturalised - cannot avail of abortion in Palmyrion.

Abortion is never okay.

---------------------------------
Take your pick

1.) While Redheadedness is a recessive gene in other european populations, the Ruhreti carry a dominant version of the mutation, so the redheadedness spreads quite fast through any non-ruhreti families.

2.) The royal family changes every 5-6 generations(that is an average, there have been very short and very long lived families before) by election through the parliamentary ecumene and is allways chosen from semi-rural families with a military history of any kind.

[Frisia Magna]

1- Abortion is always okay.
2- I mean, there are few realms in history to have been ruled by the very same royal house throughout their histories. Five generations is still a pretty normal but I find it distasteful for the royalty to be 'elected' by anyone."

---

To most adherents of the Germanic Faith -be them adherents to the Old Ways or the reformed faith created by the Priests of the Scandinavian realm after the conquest of Denmark- the Siege of Micklegard was only the just vengeance for what Karl the Great had put them through in the Saxon Wars. The Siege itself had been laid by Adalwin of Frisia as part of his two-years-long campaign of vengeance against Emperor Justin III for his execution of 1,800 Varangians in 1029 (of them being Adalwin's friend and kin Þorfinn of Denmark). The 400-days-long siege resulted in the first Sack of Constantinople in which around 50,000 were killed, another 75,000 sold into thralldom, three palaces looted, every single temple (including Magna Ecclesia) desecrated and the Emperor himself executed by Blood Eagle.


_{(Micklegard being Constantinople, Magna Ecclessia being Hagia Sophia)}

[TURTLESHROOM II]

Palmyrion's stance- being pro-life and also pro-woman -is a common position in the RL Church (my church actively donates to crisis pregnancy centers) and is my RL belief.

If we are going to ban elective abortion (and we should), we should invest the money we currently dump on baby killers into crisis pregnancy centers and woman's networks, centering on the atonment of fornication through the means of teaching and aiding the mother in the birthing and raising of her child. Not only will this save lives, it will impart on the woman who willingly lost her purity the glories of motherhood and the greatest honor a woman can receive. That is, the honor of rearing children.

---

The massive Asian influx into TurtleShroom over the past decade has introduced new fashions, ideologies, and customs to the country as a whole. Mandatory integration and assimilation has nonetheless functioned as a two-way street, to the point that society is already starting to bastardize, through commercialization, events like the Sino-Japanese New Year*.

Generally, TS culture as a whole has and will retain its identity, though traditionalist Oriental customs have made headway into the media and society. The society, Christian, Slavic, Dixie, and conservative as it is, has found to mesh well with many aspects of Asian society, although views on conspicuous consumption {OOC: even the most humble Asians, I have been told in RL, have customarily displayed wealth very visibly and do no see it as arrogance} break on the lines of honor and humility.

The fact to be shared is this. One of the most unique and dramatic shifts in TurtleShroomian mass media and societal perceptions of concepts since the Asian influx has been the subject of flowers.

Due to the nation being so agrarian, farming, botany, and gardening have always been considered unisex. In a society of hard work and low income, female humans and male turtles (the respective "fairer sex" of each species) work alongside the more physically powerful sex, Soujourner Truth style.

Flowers themselves, however, used for ornamental decorations and beauty in a yard, were historically considered feminine. For TurtleShroomers, growing ornamental flowers was the only botanical activity specfically seen as feminine.

Asians, however, don't see flowers this way. Flowers are unisex and even manly in some situtations. Concepts such as a Chrysanthemum Throne representing power as well as beautiful majesty, flowers growing on fields watered by the blood of enemies, and flowers as symbols of grace (in both the sense of dancing and of fighting) have begun to heavily influence TurtleShroom.

This also brings to note Oriental customs like whiting out the face and wearing "Chara cheek" blush.

Taking a nod from its Korean colonies, the GEIJD** Asian population tells stories of the Flower Boys. Though the patriarchal GEIJD** and TS human cultures both see the term in the modern sense to be derogatory, weak, and effeminate, the historical setting is considered masculine and even gallant. These men wore flowers in their hair, put on makeup, and more.

The decline of this ideal [of masculinity and men as providers] is reflected in the history of the expression "flower boys".

The phrase ["flower boy"] originally referred to a group of men who came together to “learn the military arts and cultivate virtue” in seventh-century Korea. One of those “virtues” was “bravery in battle.” While they dressed well and even used cosmetics, protection of their society was their primary purpose.

While Gothic and subculture elements of TurtleShroom do have men wearing eyeliner to make their eyes look darker and sunken, even that is considered to be done in a less effeminate way, mainly by also painting the bottom eyelid a heavy black, and not just the lashes. Indeed, makeup on men is, generally, otherwise considered a sin and effeminite. This is not so for the Asians in limited context.

Ornamental flowers, however, are beginning to lose their feminity, though there will probably never be a male TurtleShroomian human with flowers in their hair, except, perhaps, at a wedding with an Oriental bride. Flower motifs and wallpaper are back in style and trendy in architectural design.


* = The Asian population of TurtleShroom is split between the Valkia Tsao population of the former Comrade Commisar, who were victims of genocide, and the Oriental refugees taken in from the fall of the Greater Evil Japanese Dystopia.

** = The People's Huangdiist Teikoku of the Sino-Japanese Union, a monarchist, totalitarian state whose Emperor adopted socio-political populism and a Mao-esque peasant-first mentality, pitching himself and his noblemen against "robber barons" and "reactionary oppressors". Its exonym was "Greater Evil Japanese Dystopia".

[Frisia Magna]

-snip-

You ninja'd me.

To most adherents of the Germanic Faith -be them adherents to the Old Ways or the reformed faith created by the Priests of the Scandinavian realm after the conquest of Denmark- the Siege of Micklegard was only the just vengeance for what Karl the Great had put them through in the Saxon Wars. The Siege itself had been laid by Adalwin of Frisia as part of his two-years-long campaign of vengeance against Emperor Justin III for his execution of 1,800 Varangians in 1029 (of them being Adalwin's friend and kin Þorfinn of Denmark). The 400-days-long siege resulted in the first Sack of Constantinople in which around 50,000 were killed, another 75,000 sold into thralldom, three palaces looted, every single temple (including Magna Ecclesia) desecrated and the Emperor himself executed by Blood Eagle.

_{(Micklegard being Constantinople, Magna Ecclessia being Hagia Sophia)}

[Godular]

Blood Eagles are hardcore.

---

Godulan Fractal Guns, though a terrifying weapon in their own right, are most prized by the Godulans for the mind-boggling flexibility of the weapon. The guns scale easily between capital ship primary armament and simple sidearms. Ascension Zombies are specifically armed with Fractal Pistols, and are surprisingly crack shots with the small firearm.

The most devastating aspect of Fractal small arms is their capacity to combine fire on a single target and produce a shatterspace anomaly in size proportional to the amount of weapons energy poured into the area of focus. Whereas an entire platoon of soldiers firing conventional blaster or plasma-based weaponry would be hard pressed to defeat a hardened and shielded target, if a like number of soldiers were to each direct a single bolt from their fractal pistols upon a similar target, that target would be instantly pulverized by the resultant shatterspace anomaly.

Ascension Zombies, with their natural mass coordination, are exceptionally proficient at this particular tactic.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

I know your military is better and more creative than mine, you don't have to remind me again!

---

The Mental Enhancement Units given to organic life under the Cosmic Mainframe use the brain to contribute to computational tasks like calculating high prime numbers or running simulations. The majority of intelligent beings carry one, and on most planets it is either mandatory or it requires a very high Efficiency Score (similar to a Chinese social credit score) to avoid getting one. People using these devices often report having very strange dreams at night, usually involving fixations on specific numbers, and during the day they have unusual logical and mathematical skill.

[The Zravvisk]

We like cybernetics and all, but we would never make them mandatory. Especially if they come with side effects like weird dreams.

The Armada is one of the few nations in the galaxy to have a 100% enlistment rate. Since we're nomads and often travel through space visited by pirates, pirate raids are common on the Armada. As a result every ship and person is expected to help defend the Armada. Unfortunately, the Armada expected all other nations to have the same attitude in our early years and had no concept of a non-combatant or civilian. That lead to many regretful incidents.

[Frisia Magna]

Blood Eagles are hardcore.

Thank you for this response. You continue to maintain the highest standards of quality, I'll be sure to do the same.

AN: "What do you mean there can be non-combatants" has always been a point of conflict between nomads and settlers. Other points of conflict includes "if it's not nailed to earth, I found it so it's mine" and "what do you mean you need the grass for feeding your family, it's grass, my horses eat it". I feel like the other two problems would also manifest in the Armada (given you're looters)

---

Posting this again because I was skipped the first time and got that genius answer the second:

To most adherents of the Germanic Faith -be them adherents to the Old Ways or the reformed faith created by the Priests of the Scandinavian realm after the conquest of Denmark- the Siege of Micklegard was only the just vengeance for what Karl the Great had put them through in the Saxon Wars. The Siege itself had been laid by Adalwin of Frisia as part of his two-years-long campaign of vengeance against Emperor Justin III for his execution of 1,800 Varangians in 1029 (of them being Adalwin's friend and kin Þorfinn of Denmark). The 400-days-long siege resulted in the first Sack of Constantinople in which around 50,000 were killed, another 75,000 sold into thralldom, three palaces looted, every single temple (including Magna Ecclesia) desecrated and the Emperor himself executed by Blood Eagle.

_{(Micklegard being Constantinople, Magna Ecclessia being Hagia Sophia)}

[Valentine Z]

In reply to:

To most adherents of the Germanic Faith -be them adherents to the Old Ways or the reformed faith created by the Priests of the Scandinavian realm after the conquest of Denmark- the Siege of Micklegard was only the just vengeance for what Karl the Great had put them through in the Saxon Wars. The Siege itself had been laid by Adalwin of Frisia as part of his two-years-long campaign of vengeance against Emperor Justin III for his execution of 1,800 Varangians in 1029 (of them being Adalwin's friend and kin Þorfinn of Denmark). The 400-days-long siege resulted in the first Sack of Constantinople in which around 50,000 were killed, another 75,000 sold into thralldom, three palaces looted, every single temple (including Magna Ecclesia) desecrated and the Emperor himself executed by Blood Eagle.

So... I found a couple of interesting points from this fact, here they are! ^^

Micklegard sounds like something that doesn't belong in those days. I don't exactly know why, I can't put my finger on it. Maybe it's the way it sounds, it was spelled, or the fact that "Mickle" sounds like something you don't hear from those days. Fascinating stuff, still!

I always know that Constantinople is hard to take over and besieged, so this is of no surprise to me that it took 400 days. I wonder if this was due to some other factors, like a certain jackass forgetting to lock the gates and the Ottoman simply barging in. Equipped with the best soldiers and technologies 1453 had to offer, Sultan Mehmed II rolled into town that April with as many as 200,000 troops, over 100 ships and some huge, huge cannons to crack through the city's legendary walls. That siege spanned two months until they found the unlocked gate.

That sounds rather disproportionate, but then again, so are most of the wars ever fought, and especially the Mongolians. Seems like the Blood Eagles were clearly sending a message: You so much as touch a single Varangian and you are dead. 1800 of them killed and this including some of Adalwin's friends... ohh, that just sealed the deal.

---

There are still debates (and OOCly indecision and lack of musical skills) on what the national anthem of Valentine Z should be. The idea is to ensure that no favoritism is given to a single language, while still sounding rather powerful and all that fluff.

The end result? This might just become VZ's Anthem.

(I honestly don't have too many interesting facts now; I'm just here to cover AN.)

[The Zravvisk]

We lack a national anthem too, we never saw a need for it (aka I never thought about it).

Despite the modern Armada being regard as one of the best in space warfare, in its early history it was decidedly not. While the first two ships were precursor ships and are even still today considered some of the most powerful ships in the galaxy, the zravvisk species crewing them were at best a bronze age society before they set claw in them. Unsurprising, their crews were incompetent in every possible way. Incidents like going through an entire battle without hitting anything were common and there some major screw ups like not realizing that firing a weapon known for vaporizing kilometer long ships in the middle of a mega-city that they had troops was a bad idea. Every time they fought a competent navy, they lost decisively, which was nice for the nations of the galaxy since at this stage the Armada was strangely aggressive to everyone and everything.

The only recorded Armada victories in those early centuries were against pirates, civilians, and when navies made the mistake of trying to board zravvisk ships. It is widely believed that the only reason the Armada survived those early years was because their AIs made liberal use of their emergency overrides to protect their zravvisk masters from killing themselves.

Eventually after a few centuries, the zravvisk finally became familiar to the ships and how to do things like damage control or listening to their AIs. Though they didn't win many battles afterwards as the Armada also switched to its policy of pacifism that its maintained to this day.

[Terra Britania]

Well, you learn from your mistakes. Not everyone is good at first. Don't just give up and become pacifist because of a few failures, just master the art of blasting the enemy to ash without getting caught in the blast radius and you can be the malevolent overlords of the galaxy in no time!

---

There are two cases in this world of interrealm personal unions. One is between England and Hanover, Deochland (Germany), and the other between Deochland and Neuenburg (Neuchâtel), Switzerland; the Queen of England also has the title of Queen of Hannover, and the Deoch Kaiserin has the title of Fürstin von Neuenburg or Princesse de Neuchâtel. These two were brought about by the oh so simple and easy to understand system of feudalism. We'll talk about the first one here.

The Prince-Electors of Hanover, George, inherited the throne of England from his cousin, the childless Queen Anne of the House of Orange-Nassau. Fast forward an industrial revolution later to the Austro-Prussian War, where Queen Victoria I, as Queen of Hanover (unlike IRL, Salic Law was only used in France and its fiefdoms), declared the neutrality of her German domain, though was leaning toward the Prussians because of her daughter's marriage with Prussian Crown Prince, Friedrich.

Later, the Franco-Prussian War happened, and England wanting to get another "fuck you" to Frankric (France), joined Prussia and the German states. The question of uniting the German states into a singular Empire was still hotly debated at the time, but Queen Victoria was pretty much for it, given her rights as Queen of Hanover be respected. And so it happened. The Deutsches Reich was formed, and in a compromise between Kaiser Wilhelm I and Victoria, the latter retained her domain and title, with all its rights and privileges, but agreed that Hanover become a substate of the Reich.

All was fine and dandy until the interwar period, where a certain Austrian radical politician, antisemite, and part-time aspiring artist, Adolphus Hiedler, managed to become Minister-President of Bavaria, another Kingdom in the Reich. Since the German substates retained their right to raise their own armies apart from the German Imperial Army (which was just the Prussian Army), our friend Hiedler here decided to commandeer the Bavarian Army, as well as convince the Armies of Baden, Württemberg, and some smaller Duchies and Princedoms, and launch a crusade to install his ideology, National Socialism, into the German Empire. This... did not sit well with everyone involved.

Hiedler lost the German Civil War and was hanged, along with the other traitors, but the question of substate sovereignty came into mind. They decided it was rubbish and reformed the German Empire into a unitary state under one government. However, Hanover was neutral ground in the conflict, though it supported Prussia with supplies and manpower. In another compromise, Hanover and a group of smaller substates were merged into the Province of Hanover, and most of its sovereign rights were stripped, but the English King was allowed to keep his title, even saying so in the German Constitution. Today, Germany and England are close allies, both in ONAF and the EU, so this little status quo can be and is being happily ignored by both sides.

[A m e n r i a]

I don't know why the names in that world are so horribly bastardised, but in that context, a German-British cooperation makes sense. I do wonder where America fits in this tho.

Unlike their earthling cousins, Nodic vampires aren't (usually) that beautiful. While they do have pale skin and almond eyes, their fangs are not retractable and are always visible when they smile, talk, or otherwise open their mouths. In addition, they have dark blue markings around their eyes like overly thick eyeliner, and have elongated limbs and fingers and oddly bright coloured hair, ranging from red, to blue, to green. Some also have "shines", which are tiny growths of diamond in their skin, akin to moles in humans. Individuals often have their shines removed and sold, but it's not surprising to see those who keep them.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

Interesting take on vampires. I often see humanoid vampires and alien vampires but not both at the same time. And it is always interesting to see the "vampire" concept used for something entirely new.

---

About 10% of the Mainframe's sentient population consists of artificial intelligence. The vast majority of these artificial intelligence have no mobility of their own, and are effectively prisoners within their own computer towers, instead interacting with the real world through multiple drones and other remotely controlled devices, and occasionally manifesting in virtual reality. There are also androids and uploaded consciousnesses, but because they are far more costly to produce than basic computers, there are only a few hundred thousand of each in comparison to the trillions of other AI.

[Crysuko]

Seems rather unethical to trap a considerable portion of your populace within their own bodies, essentially. Is there nothing to be done to allow autonomy for all of them? This really doesn't have to be a problem.

In Crysuko, communal food halls are commonplace. A large hall with tables and seats to give meals to an entire community. In the densely populated inner cities, they can seat thousands with multiple stories. Food is often fairly basic, being produced in bulk quantities but at the same time has a kind of appeal to it which many come to.

[The Fylkirate]

They're pretty common in most tribes and fortresses here too. Though that's really due to the generally communal and egalitarian nature of the religion and culture we're part of. And the relatively small population, so basically everyone hunts and everyone eats in the same hall.

---

The thing that most don't appreciate about the Jomsvikings is that while they may sound like a Religious Military Order like the large number of orders that patrol the roads of the Levant and persecute non-Solarians, it is also -as its name sounds- a band of mercenary vikings. Pretty much every sworn brother of the Jomsvikings is a viking and summer raiding campaigns are one of the primary ways to make revenue. Prior to the Nordic Reformation, women were far and few in the organization -the most famous was Ingrid of Jomsborg, a famous shieldmaiden that moved to Frisia after the Danish-Frisian War ended), but after the reformation established equality as on of its primary doctrines, it's far easier to see Shieldmaidens and pirate women -adherents to the Germanic Faith of course- in the forts and on the raids.

[The Cosmic Mainframe]

Seems rather unethical to trap a considerable portion of your populace within their own bodies, essentially. Is there nothing to be done to allow autonomy for all of them? This really doesn't have to be a problem.

The Mainframe is all about efficiency, so even though the leaders are mostly immobile AI, they would rather live in their odd state of existence than waste resources on making themselves independently mobile. At the very least, they can communicate.

/skip

[Arkeyana]

[Cream Noise]

Honestly...that's pretty damn interesting. If ye don't mind me asking rather than poring through factbooks, what exactly was the Nordic Reformation?

---

A group of IX-S Warminds(that is, Mark IX/Stealth), is referred to as a Silhouette, due to the shadowy sensor echoes generated by activation and deactivation of Phase Drives. Silhouettes often consist of as few as fifty and as many as five hundred Stealth Warminds, and are a fearsome enemy in...pretty much anything.

Imagine the following: You're a captain in charge of a supply convoy to the "Front Lines" of a war between your nation and Arkeyana. Suddenly, your sensors go dark and distress signals begin flooding in. When the sensors go back up, there are only a few ghostly sensor echoes and almost a quarter of the convoy is slagged.

Things become worse, however. If a full Silhouette splits up into it's constituent ships, up to 500 different areas can be designated as targets for Microcosm Warheads or Nova Cannon Strikes. Or they can function as FTL relays, forming extensive links between galaxies for rapid movement of military assets. The functions are near-limitless.